A closer look at Virtual Machine Startup Script in Azure PlayFab Multiplayer Servers
Learn more about how VmStartupScript enables developers to configure and customize game servers before use.
Azure PlayFab Multiplayer Servers provides you with the infrastructure to host multiplayer games. And the latest VmStartupScript feature enables you to automate tasks to configure and customize those game servers before use.
PlayFab Multiplayer Servers (MPS) is a server hosting service optimized for games that is built on Azure Compute. It is global distributed cloud service that offers a broad range of compute capacity, enabling you to dynamically scale custom game servers according to demand. Popular games like Minecraft and Halo are hosted using PlayFab Multiplayer Servers.
Some developers have asked for the ability to install software and do modifications on their Virtual Machines, which not always easy to do. That’s why we created the VmStartupScript feature, which is currently in public preview. VmStartupScript enables developers to launch a script on your VM, before the execution of their game servers.
There are a number of different things that can be done with the script. Developers can use it to install custom software on the VM that is necessary for the operation of the game servers. They can also configure monitoring and logging tools, install a custom firewall and launch custom profilers to identify performance bottlenecks, and more!
Want to get started with VmStartupScript? We’ve launched a GitHub repository in which developers can find starter scripts (recipes) for multiple scenarios. As soon as they create their script, they can upload it on PlayFab and then use the API to create a new MPS Build.
To learn more about the VmStartupScript and see a demo of it in action, be sure to check out the video above. You can also hit the links below for more details and samples.
PlayFab Multiplayer Servers (MPS) documentation:
https://learn.microsoft.com/gaming/playfab/features/multiplayer/servers/
VmStartupScript documentation:
https://learn.microsoft.com/gaming/playfab/features/multiplayer/servers/vmstartupscript
VmStartupScript samples on GitHub:
https://github.com/PlayFab/VmStartupScriptGallery
Other MPS videos: